Overly Ambitious

Remember how I said we went fabric shopping last weekend? We visited Grey's Fabric, where I always get hypnotized by the pretty fabric and over-estimate my free time. I seriously over-loaded my sewing queue, so I decided to do a separate post so I can show you all the pretties. Now I just need to get my sewing machine serviced already so I can get started... My beloved machine is having some thread tension issues. Heartbreaking.

I bought the new Hawthorn dress pattern when it first came out, and then Ashley at Grey's Fabric suggested this pretty butterfly print. Now is when I confess I am completely intimidated by all the buttonholes. The fabric on the right, with its adorable mountains and roaming foxes, is for a surprise gift.

The golden fabric is going to become a Victoria Blazer by By Hand London, lined with the light gray cotton. I've always struggled to find blazers for my frame, so I might as well try making my own. The black tulip print fabric will be the sleeveless Datura blouse, with a solid black Peter Pan collar.

Now who wants to do my laundry and wash my dishes for the next month so I can make all this?

What's in your making queue?

Cocktails with Colette

Another weekend come and gone in the whirlwind of "too much to get done." On Friday night, I was up until almost 3 am between packing yarn and working on my Laurel shirt for Cocktails with Colette. I somehow managed to get everything done, and met up with Karissa and Lucinda for a lovely Saturday night.

Here are the three of us with Sarai, the owner and designer of Colette, sporting her own Laurel dress. She was incredibly sweet and friendly, and I was delighted to discover she is also a knitter! The best part? When I went up to introduce myself, Sarai looked at my shirt and said, "That's so meta!" I was so happy that she totally got it!

I came home with a signed copy of The Colette Sewing Handbook, and enough fabric for another Laurel shirt, a polka-dotted Crepe dress, and a Negroni shirt for Nate. Perhaps a tad over-ambitious, but I've started reading the book and it is full of great tutorials with step-by-step pictures so I am feeling confident.

You may have also noticed another book in the photos - I just received my copy of Amy Herzog's brand new book, Knit to Flatter. She taught a class at my local yarn store recently but I had a scheduling conflict, so I am excited to at least have her book. I haven't looked through it yet, but I will report back!

The weekend came to a very quick end with very little progress on the "get some sleep" front, but it was well worth it. How did you spend your weekend?

Group photo borrowed from Coletterie. Click through for more photos of the event!

The Meta Shirt

I am wrapping up a few major projects this week which has left me with very little time and very little sleep, so my "sleep in April plan" will start with little delay. I am excited to cross off these major items on my to-do list and reward myself with the Cocktails with Colette party on Saturday night. I'll be scrambling to make a Laurel Blouse before then, but if I manage to warp time and space, it will be done. I did manage to find the most perfect fabric.


Nate said, "How meta of you!" when he saw it. I am ridiculously excited to sew a garment with garment sewing pattern paraphernalia on it.

I have many finished projects to photograph and share with you - soon, hopefully!

Colette is coming to town

My discovery of indie yarn dyers and knitting pattern designers was a slow one. I spent most of my life being an "isolated crafter" - I didn't know other makers so I made do on my own, with cheap materials, mainstream books, and not much information. When I did finally discover that indie companies existed, I immediately fell in love. I am only a beginning sewer, but I knew that if I loved the indie knitting movement, the indie sewing movement was the only direction I could go in. I skipped over the Joann discount bins of fabrics and patterns, and jumped right into designer fabrics and independent pattern designers. Where am I going with this?

Well, Colette Patterns is coming to town. Sarai, the founder and designer of Colette, will be hosting their Boston Spring Party at Grey's Fabric on April 6th. Not only do we get to meet this amazing designer, but Grey's Fabric is offering 15% off everything in store, and 20% off if you wear something made from a Collete pattern. My original plan was to make the Crepe dress, pictured above, but then I remembered I am a very slow sewer and I have that whole "get some sleep in April" plan. So I am making a Laurel blouse instead. It has no zippers, which makes me feel like I can pull this off in time. I ordered my pattern and fabric, and am anxiously waiting for them to arrive. Are you coming, and if so, what are you making?

Who are some of your favorite indie designers, both for knitting and sewing patterns? I love discovering new designers!

Images borrowed from Colette

PJs and Sweaters

This has been such a busy month, with so much yarn-making and very little sleep. I am furiously dyeing yarn to ship off to a store in Japan, and more to go to a couple of new stores in Rhode Island and Georgia. I am telling myself maybe I will get to sleep in April. This frantic pace has left my brain quite fried, and I keep forgetting to share things, like the pajama pants class I took.

I can't believe it was already so long ago, but at the end of February I took a class on how to sew pajama pants at Gather Here. I wanted to make something for Nate, and an excuse to use Lizzy House's Constellations fabric. The plan was to make pants for Nate in class and matching ones for myself later, but the pair I made weren't quite baggy enough for him. So I kept the dark blue ones for myself, and am currently making some for him with the black constellations I got at Grey's Fabric. What I am most excited about? Having both pairs finished and making him pose for pj pant photos with me! Coincidentally, this is Nate's least favorite part.

I finally finished my cursed Folded sweater. It still needs a light blocking to even out the crinkly yarn from the frogging, but it fits and it's cute. I had some issued with yardage, but I'll tell you all about that when I have proper finished photos.

Speaking of sweaters, those swatches are in my new Merino/Cashmere/Nylon DK yarn (Wine Harvest colorway) and for a class with Ysolda. As a Christmas gift, my mom got me a spot in the Your Perfect Sweater online class. The class is fantastic, though I admit I am way behind on the lessons. In April, I will continue to overbook myself sleep and actually make this awesome sweater.

All the fiber

The North Shore Yarn Crawl is come and gone. My trunk show on Saturday was AMAZING! It's so wonderful to meet customers in person and talk about what they're making. At the end of the day I was almost out of yarn, and filled with so much joy from the outpouring of love and support I received from everyone. I am super bummed I forgot my camera at home and got no pictures of all the amazing projects people brought in to show me.

I did manage to sneak in a bit of a shop update so I can share some of the brand new colorways with you non-locals. Even though you didn't get to join in the Yarn Crawl fun, you can still see some of the pretties that debuted this weekend!

I stole some Hecate from my inventory to make myself a new Hitchhiker, which I've been using to neglect Nate's socks. They're almost done though! We have another snow storm predicted for tonight, so it's still cold enough for him to wear them.

I also finally snapped some photos of my haul from last weekend's fabric shopping. I got some Constellation fabric by Lizzie House in black to make pajama pants for Nate, and some tape measure fabric to make into a skirt for myself. I'll be using the Sewaholic Hollyburn Skirt pattern.

After trying Lucinda's fancy Gingher fabric scissors, I couldn't bring myself to use my crummy generic fabric scissors anymore. I treated myself to some nice Inspira shears (by Pfaff), and some seriously overdue pinking shears. Lastly, I bought The Negroni men's shirt pattern to make for Nate. It's kind of like a peace offering to make up for my splurging.

How did you spend your weekend?

Cross your fingers for no snow storm!

A Day on the Town

After such a difficult week and an unexpected snowstorm on Friday, when Saturday rolled around I wanted to treat myself to a nice day - one filled with simple yet happy things. So I drove into Boston to meet up with Lucinda of Sew Wrong.

We headed to South Boston, where we walked through some serious slush to get to KO Catering and Pies. They are a small place specializing in Australian-inspired food with a focus on savory meat pies. It was my first time there, and I will definitely be back!

We then walked off our pies by wandering over to Grey's Fabric and Notions. I only make it there a couple of times a year, but it's one of my favorite stores. The owner, Sarah, is super friendly and helpful (she showed me how to sew a zipper on the spot!). My favorite part is the wall of sewing patterns. Sarah has them all displayed on ledge shelving, which makes it super easy to browse her selection, and very difficult to walk away without buying one.

After fabric shopping, we wandered through the Mohr & McPherson showroom. This place makes me wish to win the lottery and refurnish my whole house. Even though I bought a lot of fabric, I didn't buy an awesome green $900 arm chair. So really, I actually saved money, right?

How did you spend your weekend?

Lucinda posted a great and detailed review of Grey's Fabric on her blog.

A Weekend of Making

The snow held off until Sunday this weekend, so I was able to host a couple of lovely ladies for a Saturday of sewing. Lucinda of SewWrong and Karissa of Kitty Kitty Crafts brought over their sewing machines, and we talked, sewed, and snacked. It was fantastic, and I actually managed to start and finish a whole project. I need to iron it and cut off some stray threads, but I'll be sharing pictures soon!

I had been wanting to bake some goodies for a while, so I took the opportunity to make snacks for our meetup. I baked some Irish scones, which we ate with strawberry jam, and two loaves of French bread, which came out surprisingly big.

It was a really nice break from my regular routine, I can't wait for the next sewing meetup! Sunday it was back to the dye pots and knitting needles. How did you spend your weekend?

Summer of Unfinished Projects

Every once in a while, it feels like you step into a time vortex, and then you get spit out the other side, several days later, with no clue of where all that time went. This is how the last two weeks have felt to me. The blog break was completely unintentional, but sometimes there just aren't enough hours and days in a week to cross off every item on a to-do list.

When life gets this busy, I find myself day-dreaming of all the crafty projects I would rather be doing. For instance, the skirt above - I made that months ago at a sewing class, but didn't have enough time to hem it. I still haven't hemmed it, and now it's starting to haunt me. I have "craft shame." I should probably get that done so I can enjoy the skirt before the warm weather disappears again. Now that I've mentioned it on here, I hope you guys keep me accountable.

Back in June, I visited Grey's Fabrics and bought this lovely Schoolhouse Tunic pattern. Back then, the month of July looked like it would be quiet, with plenty of time for leisurely sewing. I even bought two fabrics so I could make two tunics. No, I haven't started either of them... but maybe I'll manage to get them done before the end of the year. Which one do you think I should make first?

How about you, do you have any crafty ambitions you've failed to meet this summer? :)

Handmade: Pincushion

If you really like fabric and sewing in theory, but are kind of lacking in the skill department (like me), this is the kind of project for you. You might remember this photo from my post on Grey's Fabric. This is what I brought home with me.



These Valeri Wells sewing cards are amazing - really easy to follow, and quick projects that make you feel productive and accomplished. Seriously. Here is my first little pincushion:

Boston: Grey's Fabric

Happy Sunday, friends. I hope you all had amazing weekends. Ours ended up being amazingly productive and fun, so I have lots to share with you this week.

On Saturday we headed into the city for supplies and lunch, making a stop in the SoWa district. For those of you non-Bostonians, SoWa is the neighborhood south of Washington Street in the South End. It used to be industrial, but is now turning into a thriving artists' neighborhood. Harrison Avenue is home to countless studios, galleries and supply shops for artisans. Grey's Fabric & Notions is one of my favorites.




Their logo is the cutest silver fox named Bobbin

Sarah, the lovely owner. Her red glasses are so cute!




adorable sewing kits

teaching space in the back


The shop is so cute and inspiring I couldn't help leaving with a couple of goodies for myself. Definitely a must-see stop in Boston.

A Kitschy Kitchen

This year I decided to be less of a shut-in and go to the Etsy Craft Party in Salem, which was on June 10th. The turnout honestly left a little bit to be desired, but I can't really complain (too much): I met Megan from a Kitschy Kitchen and I learned something new.


This is Megan.


She makes beautiful aprons!


Oh this? I made this.

She brought her sewing machine and taught people how to make these adorable tissue holders. I love sewing, but I'm really not very good at it. Megan's tutorial was really easy to follow and it only takes about 10 minutes, so you feel really productive. These make great little gifts or stocking stuffers (think ahead, folks!). I'm going to set up a photo tutorial so you can make your own.